Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Tapasi Mondal joined West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress on Monday. She became at least the eighth BJP MLA to have crossed over to the Mamata Banerjee-led party since 2021.

At a press conference, Mondal accused the BJP of “indulging in divisive politics”.

“The BJP is trying to flare up communal tensions in the state,” she said. “It is pursuing divisive politics, and the people of this state have repeatedly rejected it… I repeatedly tried to say this within the party but the leadership ignored me. It was getting tough for me to accept such politics.”

The two-time legislator from Haldia had quit the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in 2020 to join the BJP. Haldia is located in Purba Medinipur, which is considered to be a stronghold of Suvendu Adhikari, the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly.

West Bengal will head for Assembly polls in the first half of 2026.

However, the BJP said that the “people will reject such political opportunists”.

“Earlier, Mukut Mani Adhikari, Krishna Kalyani and Biswajit Das also joined the TMC and became candidates in Lok Sabha elections but the people defeated them,” The Indian Express quoted Adhikari as having told reporters on Monday. “The people will not accept this.”

Adhikari claimed that Mondal wanted to become the Hindutva party’s district president besides being the MLA, which the leadership did not allow. “She has no organisation and nobody – not even a booth president – went with her.”

The Hindutva party had won 77 seats in the 294-member Assembly in the 2021 polls. However, its tally has now come down to 65.

The BJP’s Nisith Pramanik resigned as an MLA in 2021 to become a Union minister. Another BJP leader, Jagannath Sarkar, also won the 2021 West Bengal election, but retained his parliamentary seat. Similarly, the BJP’s Manoj Tigga was elected as an MLA in 2021, but became a Lok Sabha MP in 2024.

Two BJP MPs had also joined the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led party. However, Arjun Singh from Barrackpore returned to the BJP after he was denied a Lok Sabha election ticket by the Trinamool Congress last year.